


Let's Celebrate

by Gobetti



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Carnivalstuck AU, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-12
Updated: 2011-10-12
Packaged: 2017-10-24 13:43:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/264109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gobetti/pseuds/Gobetti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Karkat have known each other for about a year now, and their friendship has reached a point where they know they can’t be happy without each other anymore.(based on Carnivalstuck alternate universe, by dreadelion)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let's Celebrate

“Hey, Karkat, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, sure, John.”

“When is your birthday?”

The troll looked up with a mouthful of bread, staring questioningly at the human.

“What?”

“You know… what day were you born?”

“You mean when is my wriggling day?”

“Oh, so that’s how you call it?”

Karkat gulped down the food in his mouth and took a sip of his coffee, wrinkling his nose. He hated that beverage, but it was the only thing John’s father, the owner of the bakery, allowed him to have for free, and it was tough pushing down that bread loaf without something to sip. Water was better most of the time, but coffee kept him warm in cold days much like this one.

“Yeah, of course, fuckass. We’re not born like you, we’re not mammals, remember? So we obviously don’t call it the same way. It’s only logical.”

John giggled, serving a client who had just sat down. “Yeah, sorry. So, when is it?”

“When is what?”

“Your wriggling day, Karkat! Geez, I swear, sometimes it’s like you’re not actually listening to me.”

“Well, sometimes just listening to the sound of me chewing on this bread is a lot more interesting than listening to you.” Karkat stated, getting a playful pout from John. He grinned, feeling his goal being achieved, and finished eating his loaf of bread. “And I don’t know.”

John hesitated.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I don’t really know for sure. In the grubhive I grew up in, one of the adults that took care of us decided that the first of January would be the standard wriggling day for every kid that didn’t knew it for sure, only to keep track of how old we were. So I’m probably a few months older or younger than nineteen years old, or maybe my wriggling day really is January first, but I don’t know. Doesn’t matter all that much either.”

“Oh man, I can’t believe it! You should have told me, it was only last month!”

Karkat shrugged, taking another sip from the bittersweet coffee.

“We don’t really celebrate it like you humans do, John. Most of us usually forget about it, much like I did this year, and others take the day to mourn the disgrace of being brought into this world.” He looked over at John, who had a shocked look upon his face. “What, did you expect trolls to bake cakes and throw parties like you do?” He laughed, waving his head. “Really, John, you should really use your thinking pan more often. That shit makes no sense and you know it.”

In a swift motion, Karkat swallowed in one go all the coffee left in the bottom of the cup, feeling the warm liquid heat up his limbs. He shook his head, shivering with the terrible taste in his tongue, and shuddered. John sighed, taking the cup from his hand.

“You know, I could make you some hot tea the next time…”

“Yeah, you do that. Anything but this, god, how can you drink this stuff? It’s just as horrible as it looks, seriously.”

John laughed, washing away some dishes from behind the counter, and Karkat got up, handing him his empty plate.

“I’m gonna go for a walk now. I’ll probably be back for lunch, but I’m not sure.”

“Yeah, okay.” John answered, feeling a little sad. Karkat always did that. He came for breakfast, ate a warm loaf of dry bread – he really didn’t like butter, and his dad wouldn’t let him have jam or syrup or anything else – and a cup of water or coffee (eventually John would sneak some warm milk to him when his dad wasn’t looking); both would chat happily for a few minutes, and the troll would leave. He had been doing that ever since one day, around six months ago, when his dad told him to go back to work since he was neglecting a few clients to talk to his friend. Karkat then avoided spending too much time in the bakery, often going somewhere else to spend the day; when he didn’t feel like walking, he’d just sit in the bench right outside the place, reading every single book John would borrow him.

But John really liked better when the troll stayed right outside the bakery reading than the times he went out for his pointless walks. He always kept his hat down over his face to hide his mutant eye color and his nubby horns, the two things he hated the most about himself, and would wonder aimlessly around the neighborhood, looking at the same houses and shops he had already seen a gazillion times before. But with the cold temperature of the season, walking was far better than staying in one place for many hours straight.

Sometimes, Karkat wouldn’t show up to eat at lunch time, getting the feeling that he was taking too much from the humans and not giving anything back, which always resulted with John insisting that there was always spare food that they could give him; still, the troll was always very reluctant about it. It reached a point where John wouldn’t try to convince the troll to do anything anymore, and if he was hungry, he knew that his friend would show up for lunch with them. Surely.

“Hey, uh…” John whispered, grabbing Karkat’s arm before he turned to leave. The wet hand stained the fabric of his shirt, and he quickly pulled it back. “Aah! Sorry!”

“Nah, it’s okay. What is it?”

“Um, well… there’s something I want to show you tonight, after the bakery is closed, so don’t go to the doss house without coming here before, okay? It’s really important for me that you drop by tonight. Please.”

Karkat paused. John looked sincere, with a pleading look upon his eyes, and he sighed, feeling his heart flutter uneasily.

“Allright, allright. But it better be good, John. You know how I hate it when I can’t get a comfy bed in that stinky place.”

It was already worth it. John’s smile widened and he chuckled. “Yeah, I know! I’m sorry, I really am, but you won’t regret it! I’ll make sure of it!”

“Humph. I probably will, but whatever.” Karkat said, placing the hat over his messy hair and waving at the human, already walking towards the door. John waved back with a soapy hand, looking as cheerful as ever.

Karkat would never admit it, but he was already looking forward to that night.

 

 

As expected, Karkat didn’t show up for lunch. The troll wandered around the cold streets until his stomach grumbled and complained about the lack of food. With the few spare change he had in his pocket, he bought a cup of bland spaghetti in a nearby convenience store, along with a few dull crackers. He often walked nearby the bakery, only to find John and his dad walking around frantically, serving people, delivering orders, receiving payments and whatnot. He sighed, hugging himself in a futile attempt to warm up his arms, and walked away, deciding it would be rude to get in the way of their business.

Still, he couldn’t help but look at the giant clock in the church’s tower, watching the seconds hand turn slowly behind the foggy glass.

He just couldn’t wait to hear the ten o-clock bell.

 

 

It had been a very rushed day. John wiped his forehead with a small blue handkerchief he kept in his pocket, and afterwards wiping the balcony with a paper towel. The last client waved and wished John and his father a good night, and the boy simply smiled, waving back. His dad patted him on the shoulder, asking him to close the place, and John nodded, being used to do it every single day for over a year now.

He placed a few dishes away and turned off most of the lights before looking outside, a warm spark of glee shimmering inside his chest. And surely, there he was, sitting in his usual bench, looking closely at John with a small smirk.

The human invited the troll to come in with a wave of his hand, smiling widely. Karkat got to his feet and entered the bakery before John closed its doors and windows, shut the drapes and locked everything up.

“So, how was your day?” The troll asked, removing his scarf and coat and placing them over a bench at the counter.

“It was good, thanks. How about yours?”

“Pretty normal. It’s freaking cold outside. This place is always real warm because of the oven. I wish the doss house was this cozy sometimes.”

“Geez, Karkat, I told you so many times already, you can sleep in here if you want to! I bought that bed in the back room just so you don’t have to sleep in that pile of mold the doss house call a mattress.”

“John, come on, we’ve been through this already.” Karkat sighed, sitting down and resting his back against the hard counter. “Can you imagine if your grandmother found me sleeping in her house in the morning? She wouldn’t even let me in here anymore. You should be fucking happy that your dad is a bit more accepting of my race than her.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But still. You should stay at least tonight, it really is too cold outside”

John finished closing up the place, not even a small crack open in between the blinds, making it impossible for the street illumination to light the place. He found his way behind the counter, Karkat following him closely with weary eyes, and disappeared behind the kitchen door.

“What’s the occasion anyway? Why did you want me to come here tonight?”

“Oh god, you really don’t remember, do you.” He heard the human shout from the other room, and Karkat raised a single brow. “No wonder you can’t even remember your own birt—wriggling day. You suck when it comes to dates and numbers. I should really give you a notebook to write things down.”

“I don’t need a fucking notebook, John. What the hell are you doing back there?”

John didn’t answer. Five seconds later, he came out of the kitchen, pushing the swing door with his back since his hands were occupied. He was holding a small cake, a really, really small cake, enough for only the two of them, and a wide smile was plastered all over his face. A smile John couldn’t help.

“What the fuck is that.”

“Hehehe!” John laughed, placing the sweet dessert on the counter right in front of Karkat, pulling a couple of plates and forks out of the cabinet. “Happy anniversary to us!”

Karkat leaned in, staring at the frosting on top of it. With a swirly handwriting, the words “Thank you, Karkat!” were written on top of it with red icing, much like Karkat’s blood color. A few strawberries adorned the wonderful looking cake on top of the white cream covering the whole thing. Something about it felt familiar.

“Did I miss something? What are we celebrating?”

“It’s been exactly a year today since the day we firtst met, Karkat.” John said, sitting down in the other side of the counter across the troll, and Karkat looked up, surprised. John was blushing, a hand rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, and the troll stared back at the cake.

“…oh. Really? It’s been a whole year already?”

“Yup. And I thought that, since you said that trolls never celebrate anything, that this was a good opportunity to kind of celebrate with you.” He handed a knife to Karkat, and he took it, unsure of what to do. “This cake is identical to the one I gave you when we first met, do you remember?”

“Oh, yeah.” Karkat whispered, looking at the white glossy cake. That’s where he recognized it from.

“I remember that you once said that that cake was probably one of the best things you’ve eaten in your entire life, so I asked my grandma to teach me how to bake it.” He smiled, blushing even harder. “It took me a few tries, but I was able to pull it off. I hope it tastes good.”

“You… you actually remember all this stuff I said?” Karkat asked him, shocked and surprised altogether. John nodded, and it was Karkat’s turn to blush. “Wow. I mean… wow. I feel like shit now. Thanks, John.”

“Aw man, don’t be!” John told him, rubbing the troll’s arm in a reassuring gesture. “It’s okay that your memory isn’t as good as mine! I’ve been memorizing most of my grandma’s book since I was a little kid, so my memory is kind of awesome. Don’t worry about it, really. Let’s just… enjoy this cake together, okay?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Karkat mumbled, scooting a bit closer to the edge of his seat. He stared at the cake again, his blush deepening even more.

“John?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you write ‘thank you, Karkat’ on the cake?”

“Oh. Um, well…”

John hesitated, and Karkat raised his head to look at him. The human giggled a little awkwardly, looking at the troll pitifully behind his smile.

“I really don’t know? I was trying to figure out what I could write and this kinda popped into my head, because… well… because I’m really glad that I found you that day one year ago. I’m really glad that you showed up at our bakery’s doorstep and that I gave you that bread and that piece of leftover cake. And I’m even gladder that you showed up the following days that came, and every day after that too… I’m really thankful to have you in my life, Karkat. Really. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had and I can’t really see myself anymore without you. So, yeah. Thanks for being a part of my life, I guess? Hehe.”

Karkat froze. John was staring at the cake the whole time he spoke, but the troll couldn’t keep his eyes off of him. The blush in the human’s face was spreading fast with every word that came out of his mouth, and now the tip of John’s ear was colored in a very bright red. He fidgeted with his hands on his lap, smiling weakly, and Karkat felt his chest throb like never before.

It was probably the sweetest thing he had ever heard from anyone in his nineteen years of life.

“John.”

John looked up shyly. He was so damn adorable that Karkat held back a small groan, trying to maintain his own straight face.

“I’m a troll, John. A fucking troll. One with a disgusting mutant blood, on top of everything. The things you just said make no fucking sense at all.”

“W-why not? It’s the truth!” John whimpered, becoming serious all of the sudden. “Just because you’re not human, doesn’t mean you’re not a wonderful and great person, Karkat! The other trolls or humans who think that you’re not worth of everything we’re all entitled to have and much, much more are idiots who judge you before even getting to know you at all. It’s not fair! So stop putting yourself down like that, and believe me when I say that you’re the most important person to me in my life right now, and that it kills me to know the disgusting way people treat you. It’s just… it’s not fair, Karkat. You deserve better. You deserve more, so much more, and everyone and everything around you made you believe the opposite all this time. It’s not fair at all.” John took a deep breath, placed his hand atop the grey one over the counter, squeezing it lightly, and held back a few tears threatening to fall from his eyes. “Don’t believe what other people tell you, Karkat. Believe in me, your friend. Those other people don’t even know the first thing about you to decide how much you’re worth, but I do. I know you’re nice and caring, even though you rarely show it. I know you hide your own qualities behind the facade of a bad temper and a mean guy as if to protect yourself from this goddamn world; that you’re mad at everyone and everything all the time because it’s sort of like a protective instinct you held on to when trying to survive this whole mess.” And when he paused to breathe in again, a single tear finally slid down his face. He wiped it away and made his other hand join the first one, tightening the grip on the troll’s knuckles. “You’re wonderful, Karkat. I’ve only known you for a year, and… and I know I don’t want to leave you side ever again.” He sniffed, looking down at the countertop. “I want to protect you when you need my help. I want to be with you whenever you feel lonely, and I want to stay by your side forever. I-I… fuck, Karkat, I…”

It was impossible to stop the tears from rolling down his cheek. John wiped his eye again, vainly trying to stop them from falling, and he raised his head to look at Karkat in the eye.

“I really like you, Karkat. I really, really do. Things are not fair to you and I wish there was something I could do about it. I would even trade places with you if I could. You have no idea how bad I want to tell all these customers who look at you every single day with mean looks to fuck off if they’re not comfortable with your presence. They’re idiots. You’re much better than most humans I’ve ever met in my life, and… oh man, I don’t even know what else to say, I… K-Karkat, are you okay?”

“Wh-what?”

“Your eyes! Are you bleeding?”

John reached out to touch Karkat’s face, where red tears slid down his cheeks. John wiped the watery drop with his thumb, and Karkat blushed even harder when the soft hand cupped his cheek.

“Are you… crying?”

The troll didn’t answer. He slumped his head and shoulders, ashamed of his momentarily weakness.

“It’s nothing, I – I don’t even know why the fuck I’m crying for, the things you said sounded so damn sappy, I should be laughing at your stupid face instead.” He said, pushing away the hand. “Just give me a second, okay?”

John looked at him sadly and reached out again, wiping a fresh tear from the corner of his yellow and red eyes.

“It’s okay to cry, Karkat. You can be weak when you’re with me, you know that. It’s okay.”

The troll wanted to snap at John, tell him he was being stupid when he assumed that he would fucking cry because of something so silly, but he couldn’t. He closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face even faster this time, and he rested his head against that reassuring hand, purring beneath his breath. John smiled, glad that he was able to make Karkat trust him just as much as he trusted the troll.

It was an indescribable bond the two of them shared, and John thanked god in the back of his mind for such a wonderful blessing in his life.

Karkat raised his hand to hold the one against his cheek and opened his eyes to look at blue ones. He leaned in closer, touching foreheads with the human. John didn’t even flinch. Karkat held the wrist close to his face with both hands now, sniffing as his grey skin became completely stained with a light red, both from the tears and the persistent blood rush beneath his skin.

“Thank you…” he whispered, feeling John reach for his hat and remove it from his head.

“You don’t have to thank me, Karkat. I was just telling the truth.”

“But still… thank you. So much. For everything, John.”

“Yeah… same here.”

The cake was long forgotten in between them. John used his free hand to scruff the nape of the troll’s neck, playing with the soft bangs of black hair beneath his fingers. And after what seemed like hours, with each other’s warm breaths coming from their noses and mouths and tickling their wet faces, Karkat did something unthinkable even for him.

He leaned in closer, touching noses with the human.

John looked deeply at those red eyes, feeling the rough skin against his soft, fragile one. Karkat squeezed the pale wrist even harder, never hard enough to hurt John, and the human stilled his hand, grabbing the hair beneath his palm.

“Karkat…”

The troll moved his head slightly forward again, a questioning look upon his eyes, wondering both to John and to himself if it was prudent to keep going. John could only breathe in heavily when their lips were merely inches apart from each other, feeling his heart thump against his ribcage painfully, making his head feel light and a weird shiver run all the way up his spine. He stared at those black parted lips, at the sharp teeth behind them, and decided he wanted this, needed this even, for god knows how long. He just never had the courage to be the first one to do it, or the opportunity to actually think about it.

John was the one to seal the gap between them.

The kiss was soft and unsure. John felt the rough skin pressing against his own and their breaths become even hotter with each passing second, and Karkat leaned in even further, tilting his head. John opened his mouth slightly, inviting Karkat to do the same; the troll was unsure of what to do since he had never kissed anyone before, and John poked his closed lips with the tip of his tongue, silently reassuring the troll he would lead the way. He purred in return, opening his mouth and promptly entangling his cat-like tongue against the human’s.

There wasn’t much to it after things were said and done. John moaned against the kiss, closing his own eyes tightly and holding back the remains of his tears, and Karkat purred and groaned softly against those wonderful warm lips like something John had never heard before. The troll even tried to pull back when he tasted the coppery blood on his mouth, result of the soft muscle brushing against sharp fangs, but John simply pulled him even closer, leaning down to deepen the kiss even more.

The sloppy make-out session lasted for three whole minutes, but to the two of them, time had stopped on its tracks. When they pulled away, both panting heavily and with each other’s saliva smeared on their lips, Karkat seemed to notice things he had never seen about John before. He slid his open palm against the pale chin, feeling the recently shaved hair scratch his hand; he grabbed the back of the round ear, feeling the soft cartilage and cold skin, rubbing his hard fingers against it to warm it up; he scooted his hand further up, feeling the soft hair in the human’s head, scratching his claws gently against the scalp.

John could only stare intensively deep into his eyes. The red and yellow orbs stared at him in awe, unable to believe what just happened, and finally, John smiled yet again. Karkat smiled back, chuckling.

It was all too unbelievably wonderful to be true.

“We, uh… we should probably have the cake, don’t you think?” John asked, still not unlocking his gaze from Karkat’s eyes. “Before the cream starts to melt or something.”

Karkat looked down, completely forgetting about the frosty dessert. He took the knife in his right hand once again, slicing the small sweet in half once and one more time still, creating four identical pieces. John took the knife from his hand, taking a piece for himself and serving another for Karkat, spiking a fork on top of it.

“I really hope you like it.” He whispered, taking in a first bite. The troll took a deep breath, trying to tone down his own blushing, and took a mouthful of cake into his mouth.

It was exactly like he recalled it to be; moist, sweet and deliciously sour from the strawberry filling. He murmured a little cute noise of approval, having another large piece of the sweet. John couldn’t stop smiling anymore.

“Thanks. You didn’t have to go through the trouble of making this for me though. Really.”

“Oh, please, it wasn’t any trouble. It was fun, actually, to learn a new recipe. Maybe I’ll teach you how to do it too, someday.”

Karkat grinned, munching a strawberry. “Yeah, sure. You’re too optimistic, John. Seriously. I mean, come on, can you actually see me baking a cake? I don’t think I can, not even ironically.”

John laughed, swallowing. “Yeah, I really can’t see you baking at all. But you’d look… uh… cute, in an apron.”

Karkat blushed, his attempt of making the redness in his face fade away completely useless now.

“You’re an idiot. How can you say that I’d look cute in anything? I’d look fucking ridiculous, which means that I’d look like my normal self.”

“Oh, come on, I think you are pretty cute, Karkat.”

“What the fuck, John! Cute?! I’m threatening and extremely dangerous and badass, that’s what I am. I am not cute!”

“See! That’s what I’m talking about. Totally cute, come on.”

Karkat growled an empty threat, and John giggled, placing the hat back to his head, hiding only one horn.

“There! Now the picture’s complete. The king of cuteness among trolls everywhere. It is you, Karkat. Don’t deny it.”

“Shut up, you idiotic nooksniffer.”

“And what’s with that anyway? What does ‘nooksniffer’ means, Karkat?”

The troll gagged, blush now spreading down to his neck; he stuttered, trying to change the subject, which John wouldn’t allow as he poked hard into the sensitive spot in Karkat’s shoulder blade that made him scream with embarrassment.

And so the night went on. Both smiled and laughed some more, and soon the cake was eaten and a couple of glasses of hot cocoa were shared. John snickered at the brown mustache the thick drink made over Karkat’s lips, and Karkat apologized for cutting John’s tongue with his teeth when the hot beverage stung his fresh wounds. Another brief kiss was shared, less hot and hesitant like the first, and finally a last hug. The troll agreed to stay in the backroom for the night after he looked at the clock – if he went to the doss house at such time, there would probably be no beds available for him anymore and he’d have to sleep on the floor –, so John fixed him up with clean sheets, a thick blanket and his very own pillow, reassuring the troll over and over again that it’d be fine and that he should make himself comfortable.

Karkat lay down on the soft mattress, and John promptly fixed the blanket over his body, making sure he was warm and cozy before going back to his own room.

“What if your grandma sees me?” he asked, yawning against the pillow.

“I’ll tell her you got sick; she knows I wouldn’t just leave you out in the cold with no proper care. Not even she would be that heartless.”

“Okay. So I should probably fake a really bad look, right?”

“Yup. Just try to look real tired, and you’re good to go. But don’t worry; she never comes to this room unless we have people staying over, so you’re going to be fine.”

“Allright. Thanks again.”

John nodded, sitting down in front of the bed and sharing the pillow with Karkat.

“No problem.”

They intertwined fingers, smiling softly at each other. John stayed there until the exhausted troll struggled with his eyelids, unable to keep them open for much longer, and as he rubbed his thumb against gray knuckles, John watched his best friend – boyfriend now, maybe? – fall asleep.

His chest felt light and his cheeks hurt like hell from pulling that goofy expression for so long.

But he didn’t really care. Not one bit.

Because he was next to the person he cared the most about in the whole world, and that’s all that mattered to him.

That’s all that would matter to him for the rest of their days.

John knew it for sure.


End file.
